This speech discusses client advocacy, a paraprofessional service offered in many community mental health centers to help bridge the gap between therapist and client. While having an advocate on the mental health team is an attractive idea, these client advocates are quite susceptible to "corruption." The author discusses two major causes of this "corruption": (1) role confusion--the tendency for workers to slide back into doing therapy while purporting to be doing advocacy, consequently corrupting both; and (2) role instability--the destroying of client advocacy by the depersonalizing, alienating mode of organizing community mental health centers. The author is convinced that client-advocates can be effective change agents when they are not confused by the conflicting roles of advocate and therapist, and when their efforts are not being undermined by a paternalistic system. He offers several steps which can be taken to strengthen the position of the client-advocate. (Author/PC)

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